The Best Concerts In Dallas This Week, 2/23-3/1

Have no fear, Dallas; as soon as this dreaded icepocalypse ends, we'll have plenty of concerts to revive our flagging social lives. In one of the most left field choices in recent memory, Meghan Trainor is taking all of her bass to the Granada Theater. Jonathan Richman keeps his recurring shows in Denton alive. Diana Ross, who gave us Tracee Ellis Ross as well as, you know, her music, plays the Verizon Theatre. Key! plays a nondescript Deep Ellum locale. There's plenty more too.

Bad Suns is an alternative rock band from California. Their debut record,

Language & Perspective

, was released last year and now they're out on the road to tour it. Bad Suns has the kind of arena-ready, catchy hook-driven, bright and sunny music you might hear while thumbing through brand new vintage T-shirts at Urban Outfitters.

I usually manage to catch Jonathan Richman once every couple or few years. Every time I see him he is great, one of the best shows of the year, no matter what year it is. In 2007, he started a long effort to make "Roadrunner" the official state song for Massachusetts started, which ultimately failed just last month. Richman wrote the song before he was out of his teens, recorded it with John Cale in 1972, and it became the opening track on the Modern Lovers' debut LP in 1976. Richman is one of rock's most eccentric and unpredictable cult figures. He is a great performer with a stage persona that is childlike and naïve. But he is also an incredible songwriter whose songs, now as much as 40 years old, have withstood the test of time. After the Modern Lovers, Richman successfully took his music in several different worldly directions, often showcasing his love for the Spanish language. Don't miss him.

Jeremy Hallock

Be Good & Do Well by -topic.Local Education With -topic, Ronnie Hart Band, Mink Coats, 9 p.m. Wednesday, February 25, at Three Links, 2704 Elm St., 214-653-8228 or threelinksdeepellum.com, $5-$8 Three Links has a few bills with the title "Local Education." These bills have a few of Dallas's best local musicians. This one in particular has Mink Coats, a psychedelic garage outfit from Denton and Ronnie Hart, a funky prince esque rocker. The headliner is -topic one of Dallas' brightest and best rappers who scored the opportunity to have one of his songs in a McDonalds commercial. The sky's the limit for these folks. HDB

At this point, Diana Ross is no longer an artist; she's a legend. There is likely no one woman with a broader influence in pop and disco music than Ross, and certainly none with fiercer hair. Songs like "I'm Coming Out" and "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," are the soundtrack to the childhoods of multiple generations, and those came after her run of hit records with the Supremes during the 1960s. Everyone can appreciate Ross's dance-forward tunes. Now, at over 70 years old, Ross is still just as regal as she was in her younger days. Her voice is still well intact, capable of reaching the same highs and lows that made her famous 50 years ago. The fact that Ross is still touring and selling out venues is perhaps the biggest testament to her broader success as an artist. If you make it out to this show at Verizon Theatre, it will probably go down as one of your best concerts of all time.

Remember Carly Rae Jepsen? How about Foster the People? Gotye and Kimbra ring any bells? Icona Pop? Bauer? The Wanted? You still "Heying" and "Hoeing" to the Lumineers? I could go on, but I think get the point that things look less than promising for Meghan Trainor, the young lady who's debut album has led to one too many jokes who's punchline is the word "bass." Who knows, maybe that's not how it will go for her. She can always buck the considerable odds against her and make more music that gets played to death on pop stations nationwide. It just depends on how the system treats her new work. She not only went to the Berklee School of Music, but she also spent time in Nashville ghostwriting for other artists, so the skill set is there for her to succeed. But it may all depend on whether super producer L.A. Reid feels like doubling down and pushing her into the cycle all over again. If not, she'll probably wind up one more forgotten flavor of the month.

Jaime-Paul Falcon

A Place to Bury Strangers With Creepoid and the Orange, 8 p.m. Friday, February 27, at Club Dada, 2720 Elm St., dadadallas.com, $12

A Place to Bury Strangers is that rare breed of modern indie band that actually gets what made the '90s such a great decade for sonic guitar worship. Channeling the best parts of noise merchants like the Jesus and Mary Chain, Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine, they have created a dark, apocalyptic sound that often eclipses their predecessors in noise, feedback and fury. They swing through Dallas this weekend supporting their fifth studio album

Transfixation

, an album that manages to up the ante of sonic superiority and post-punk angst. APTBS shows aren't so much concerts as they church services where feedback is the lord and the audience are the congregation undergoing a musical absolution. As exciting as the upcoming JAMC Psychocandy tour is, APTBS have been one-upping that album since their conception. Bring earplugs. You will need them.

Key! has a wonderful song in which he asks dutifully, "Guess who is fucking your bitch?" Is it Key!? Why, yes it is Key! Make no mistake, he is indeed fucking

your

bitch. He's one of the most interesting folks coming out of Atlanta's rap scene, which has a talent pool like no other. The good folks of Provide the Wave teemed up with Apply Pressure out of Florida to bring Key! to Dallas for what I believe is the very first time. Check out the show; it's one to remember. Just make sure to keep your spouse away from him.

We've all seen the commercials: The single human face among the montage of sad, helpless abused animals, all guilting you into donating money for their rescue. That lone face, of course, belongs to Sarah McLachlan, and for better or worse that's what we'll all remember her for the most years from now. But once upon a time she was best known as her serene singing on hits like "Angel" and "I Will Remember You." In the late-'90s boom of strong, solo female singers in alternative music, McLachlan cleverly rounded them up to create one of the landmark all-female festival Lilith Fair. She's since mostly disappeared from the mainstream, save for the occasional under-the-radar album or charitable appearance, but her work holds up. She shows near antipathy towards upbeat songs, like the musical equivalent of a Nicholas Sparks novel, scientifically designed to provoke immense sadness. So grab the tissues, make the drive to Winstar and have a great, cathartic cry.

Fungi Girls originally garnered the attention from bloggers and music scenesters around North Texas when they were just teenagers. Like teen in the sense that they weren't even 18 years old yet. They were always wise beyond their years in some ways, drawing samples of the underground and indie to craft their music. Fungi Girls have a lo-fi psychedelic surf rock thing going on. they're one of many solid surf rockish band's in this area, which is weird because there ain't any surfing, but who care bruh, wide the wave.

Pierce the Veil With Sleeping With Sirens, 7 p.m., Sunday, March 1, at South Side Ballroom, 1135 S Lamar, 214-421-2021, $43

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The love for post-hardcore emo Vans Warped Tour circa early to mid aughts music will never falter. Especially considering the fact that all of the extravagantly dramatic teens of a decade ago now have a disposable income. And teens and the suburbs still exist too. Pierce The Veil is one of the hottest bands of the emo ilk. They released their first album, A Flair For the Dramatic, and it was met with a lot of feelings and emotions. Aside from the tour, they've got a brand new album on the docket for 2015.

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